The present invention relates generally to a hinge assembly and a refrigerator employing the hinge assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hinge assembly providing a circulating route for a working medium used by a refrigerator and a refrigerator employing the hinge assembly.
Generally, a refrigerator includes a freezer compartment and a fresh food compartment which are partitioned from each other to store various foods at low temperatures in appropriate states for a relatively long time.
It is now common practice in the art of refrigerators to provide an automatic icemaker. In a “side-by-side” type refrigerator where the freezer compartment is arranged to the side of the fresh food compartment, the icemaker is usually disposed in the freezer compartment and delivers ice through an opening in the access door of the freezer compartment. In this arrangement, ice is formed by freezing water with cold air in the freezer compartment, the air being made cold by the cooling system or circuit of the refrigerator including an evaporator. In a “bottom freezer” type refrigerator where the freezer compartment is arranged below a top fresh food compartment, convenience necessitates that the icemaker is disposed in the access door of the top mounted fresh food compartment and delivers ice through an opening in the access door of the fresh food compartment, rather than through the access door of the freezer compartment. In this case, a working medium (i.e., coolant), such as air or a mixture of propylene glycol and water, is cooled, directly or indirectly, by the cooling system. The working medium is then delivered through a passageway to the icemaker to maintain the icemaker at a temperature below the freezing point of water.
Regardless of the type of the working medium, it would be desirable to provide a safe, compact, concealed and cost effective circulating scheme for supplying and returning the working medium to and from the icemaker from the main body of the refrigerator